In Spanish, I was taught that it was pronounced hah-vee-air but I've seen on here a few times that it's hah-vee-ay. Where does this pronunciation come from?

Thanks. :)

September 22nd, 2013, 03:24 PM

redwoodfey

I've never heard it with a silent r. A good rule of thumb for Spanish is every letter is pronounced. Except h, which is always silent. hah-vee-er. The last sound is less air and more yer. I'm trying to think of an English word that rhymes with and can't. E sounds like eh in Spanish. Like the e in elbow. Hah-vee-air is how almost all English speakers I've known say it though, so that's perfectly acceptable. hah-vee-ay sounds more French to me.

September 22nd, 2013, 03:30 PM

babtr1ll

Personally, I would pronounce it "Have-ee-ay" but now I think back to learning Spanish in school, redwoodfey is right - in Spanish, almost every letter is pronounced. So, I would have to say it is pronounced properly as "Have-ee-air":)

September 22nd, 2013, 03:35 PM

giinkies

I pronounce it hah-vee-air.

September 22nd, 2013, 09:41 PM

lexiem

I would pronounce it hah-vee-air. Hah-vee-ay would have never occurred to me.

September 22nd, 2013, 10:12 PM

ameliawilliams

The previous posters are correct, but it's less an "air" sound and more an "err" or "ehr" sound. Slight difference.

It's pronounced hah-vee-ehr, but I've noticed that a lot of people (myself included) tend to shorten it to sort of hahv-yehr, taking out the ee sound.

Totally -air, guys [see link above]! The 'r' at the end is just rolled (depending on location of speaker), which I apparently cannot do anymore since it's been ages since I've spoken more than 5-6 words of Spanish at a time! It's like -airrrrr! haha